RRND Email Full Text (Scheduled)

  • Trump Says He May Pull Blanche’s Attorney General Nomination Until Dissenting Senators Leave Office

    Source: US News & World Report

    “President Donald Trump said Thursday he may pull acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination for the full-time post to avoid making concessions to a few Senate Republicans who want him to scale back protections for his family business and potential payouts for his allies that the president negotiated with his own Department of Justice. Trump doubled down on choosing his former personal lawyer as the nation’s top lawman, calling him ‘a STAR,’ and said he will keep him in the role as acting attorney general until Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina leave office. … Cornyn and Tillis, who both leave office next year, have sought additional assurances in writing spelling a final end to that an ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ as part of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2026-07-30/trump-says-he-may-pull-blanches-attorney-general-nomination-looking-to-avoid-concessions

  • Senate panel approves CDC nominee, controversial HHS pick

    Source: Axios

    “The Senate health committee approved the nomination of Erica Schwartz for Centers for Disease Control director Thursday, a step toward refilling the depleted ranks of the Trump administration’s health care leadership. The committee also approved the nomination of Sean Kaufman, who’s in line for assistant secretary for preparedness and response and had been in trouble because of past anti-vaccine statements. The votes showed Republicans, at least, are still willing to accept the administration’s assurances about the nominees even though committee chair Bill Cassidy has made it clear he’s uneasy with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s policies. The narrow committee endorsements put both nominees in line for votes to be confirmed by the full Senate, which have yet to be scheduled.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.axios.com/2026/07/30/senate-panel-approves-cdc-nominee-schwartz-kaufman

  • Palestine: Israeli strikes kill at least four, including children, across Gaza Strip

    Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]

    “At least four people have been killed and dozens injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza despite an ongoing ‘ceasefire’ in the latest violation of the agreement that was meant to help end the genocide. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Thursday, hospitals across the Gaza Strip received six bodies and 34 injured people in the past 24 hours. These include four new deaths, as well as one person who died from previous injuries and one body that was recovered.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/30/israeli-strikes-kill-at-least-four-including-children-across-gaza-strip

  • US economy slowed to 1.5% growth rate in Q2; June core inflation at 3.3%

    Source: CNBC

    “Economic growth was weaker than expected in the second quarter while inflation in June held well above the Federal Reserve’s goal, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services, increased just 1.5% for the April-through June period, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers adjusted for seasonality and inflation. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a growth rate of 1.8%, following the 2.1% increase in the first quarter. A separate report showed that the personal consumption expenditures price index, which is the Federal Reserve’s primary forecasting gauge, fell a seasonally adjusted 0.1% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3.7%. The readings were in line with forecasts.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/30/us-economy-slowed-to-1point5percent-growth-rate-in-q2-june-core-inflation-at-3point3percent.html

  • US Aircraft Carrier Makes a Rare Port Call in Vietnam

    Source: New York Times

    “For the fourth time since the end of the Vietnam War, a United States aircraft carrier made a port call in Vietnam on Thursday, promoting joint security ties at a time when tariffs and the war in Iran have hurt American influence across Asia. The carrier George Washington pulled into the quiet waters near Da Nang on day 70 of its deployment — not far from the beaches where U.S. Marines first landed in 1965, accelerating a war that killed around 58,000 Americans and 2 million Vietnamese. Both countries celebrated the 7-day port call, the longest stay in Vietnam for an American warship since the two countries restored relations in 1995, as a sign of how far the former enemies have come.” (07/30/26)

    https://archive.is/VwOws

  • Congo: Regime says the death toll in fastest-growing Ebola outbreak has passed 1,500

    Source: ABC News

    “The fastest-growing Ebola outbreak has killed more than 1,500 people in eastern Congo, official data released on Thursday showed, marking a 50% increase in around a week that shows the emergency continuing to outpace response efforts. As of Tuesday, 3,442 cases had been recorded, with 1,521 deaths, according to the latest government update. The outbreak, which was declared on May 15, has been linked to the Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.” (07/30/26)

    https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/congo-death-toll-fastest-growing-ebola-outbreak-passed-135218844

  • The spacecraft NASA sent to rescue the falling Swift observatory is in trouble

    Source: Engadget

    In early July, NASA launched a spacecraft designed to rescue the Swift observatory, which is currently decaying at a faster rate than normal, in hopes that it could still collect data for scientists over the coming years. But now that spacecraft itself is in trouble, and the fate of the mission remains unclear. In an update on the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory blog, NASA has revealed that the spacecraft called LINK experienced attitude control issues last weekend, meaning it had problems managing its orientation in space. That caused the spacecraft to spin, which in turn resulted to sporadic communications. … Thankfully, the ground team still has communication with LINK, and it’s planning to use the spacecraft’s electric propulsion thrusters to try and stop its spinning over the coming days.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.engadget.com/2226863/nasa-swift-rescue-link-probe-in-trouble/

  • Study: Viagra shows potential against cancer spread

    Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]

    “Best known as Viagra, the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil started off as a treatment for reduced blood flow but soon saw its value spike after its other effects became clear. The blue pill could have more uses, according to research by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Tel Aviv. The team found indications that it curbs cancer metastasis via a ‘newly discovered biological mechanism’ drawing upon the drug’s blood dilatation effects. … the team says an analysis of digital health records pointed to ‘significantly improved survival among sildenafil users, with a dose-dependent additive benefit observed when combined with statins.'” (07/30/26)

    https://archive.is/uT2ez

  • US Filings for Jobless Benefits Rise to 197,000 Last Week, but Layoffs Remain Historically Low

    Source: US News & World Report

    “The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but layoffs remain in the historically healthy range of the past few years. U.S. filings for jobless aid in the week ending July 25 rose by 9,000 to 197,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The previous week’s figure was revised up by 1,000 to 188,000 but remains the lowest in more than 50 years. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast 207,000 new applications. Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the U.S. job market.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2026-07-30/us-filings-for-jobless-benefits-rise-to-197-000-last-week-but-layoffs-remain-historically-low

  • Australia: Regime takes Telegram to court over alleged failure to remove ‘pro-terror’ material

    Source: BBC News [UK state media]

    “Australia is taking Telegram to court over its alleged failure to remove ‘pro-terror’ material, including video of the Christchurch shootings, the country’s eSafety commissioner has said. Julie Inman-Grant, who last year led Australia’s world-first ban on social media for under-16s, said the platform faced a fine of up to to A$54.6m (£28m, US$38m) for failing to comply with its safety obligations under the Online Safety Act. The platform had left content ‘linked to some of the most notorious acts of known extremist violence in recent history’ online long after it had been put on notice, she alleged.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmrv4pnexmo

  • GA: Father faces sentencing in vexatious prosecution over son’s crime

    Source: Seattle Times

    “A man who gave his son the gun used to kill two students and two teachers at Appalachee High School in Georgia is set to be sentenced Thursday after he was convicted of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Colin Gray’s sentencing comes just days after his 16-year-old son, Colt Gray, pleaded guilty to murder and other charges and was sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting …. The elder Gray is one of a handful of parents around the country who have been charged criminally after their children were accused in shootings. … Prosecutors have said that Colin Gray gave his son the rifle as a Christmas gift and also bought him ammunition, a gun sight and other shooting accessories.” (07/30/26)

    https://archive.is/HI1fh


  • Fauci Unmasked, Despite the Fifth Amendment

    Source: Garrison Center
    by Thomas L Knapp

    “Witch hunt tactics aside, US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) performed a valuable public service by releasing excerpts from Fauci’s diaries. I’ve been browsing those excerpts for a couple of days now; they run to several hundred pages so I haven’t had time to do a thorough beginning-to-end read. They unmask (pun entirely intended) Fauci as a not very likable bureaucrat, flattered by attention and susceptible to that flattery, constantly butthurt by any attack on or even public disagreement with his pronouncements, and laser-focused not on ‘public health’ as such nearly so much as on maintaining his position and reputation as America’s top ‘public health authority.'” (07/30/26)

    https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20779

  • A Head for an Eye: The Government’s War on the American People

    Source: Rutherford Institute
    by John & Nisha Whitehead

    “We have been ambushed. We should be talking about the dangerous, destabilizing things being done to this country. … Instead, we are trapped in a vicious loop of nonsense, mania, political demagoguery and manufactured spectacle while the country goes to hell in a handbasket. Every day—sometimes every hour—brings another outrage, another threat, another vulgar display of power, another self-glorifying meme, another political provocation and another distraction demanding our attention. Before we can fully comprehend one assault on the Republic, another takes its place. That is not merely the chaos surrounding this government. It is one of the ways this government maintains power.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/a_head_for_an_eye_the_governments_war_on_the_american_people

  • The Right vs. the Right: Conservative “Liberals” in the Age of Trump

    Source: CounterPunch
    by David S D’Amato

    “We’ve reached a point where Bill Kristol can be a featured speaker at a ‘liberal’ conference. It’s hard, in this context, to know which way is up, yet we can see clearly that all ways now point rightward. Kristol is far from alone; this cottage industry includes a who’s who of bloody-handed, Bush-era conservatives who now pretend to care about the rule of law, when their whole careers were spent writing thin apologies for the many constitutional violations of the post-9/11 years. … What the good-faith liberals aligning themselves with this reanimated corpse of the neoconservative right seem not to understand is that these dynamics, migrating the entire acceptable political spectrum firmly into the right, will long outlast Donald Trump. In the end, Trump will have had two terms as president. But the range of politically feasible options could remain bolted down on the far right for many decades or even longer.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/30/the-right-vs-the-right-conservative-liberals-in-the-age-of-trump/

  • Kevin Warsh just pulled back the curtain on America’s economic progress

    Source: Washington Examiner
    by Dan Varroney

    “Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh pulled back the curtain this week on an economy making more progress than people feel. Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index stood at minus 31 in July, and two-thirds of people said conditions were getting worse. Yet consumers continue to spend, workers are holding on to their jobs, and businesses are investing heavily in the technology and productive capacity that will shape what comes next. People may feel uncertain, but they are not acting defeated. Warsh called the economy’s resilience ‘impressive’ after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. He pointed to solid growth, job gains keeping pace with the workforce, and an unemployment rate that has changed little, even as inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% goal.” (07/30/26)

    https://archive.is/QtsFv

  • Socialism Equals Poverty and Free Markets Equal High Standards of Living

    Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
    by Jacob G Hornberger

    “Before the government can give money away, it must first have money. … This is what socialists fail to realize when they advocate socialism. The reason they don’t consider it is because there is already wealth that has been built up in society that they want to seize and redistribute. They see all that wealth and simply take it for granted. Why not have the government seize part of that wealth and use to to help the poor, needy, and disadvantaged as well as seniors? But there are two important points here. One, socialists never ask: What was it that brought that wealth into existence? They just see it and want to grab it. And, two, by interrupting the process of wealth creation, they don’t realize that their seizure of wealth results in lower standards of living for everyone, especially the poor.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.fff.org/2026/07/30/socialism-equals-poverty-and-free-markets-equal-high-standards-of-living/

  • Right-Wing Media and OnlyFans Are in a Symbiotic Relationship

    Source: The Bulwark
    by Will Sommer

    “There’s a new MAGA personality on the scene: Savanna Cannon. Parroting talking points about wacko liberals and often wearing a Charlie Kirk–style ‘Freedom’ shirt, Cannon looks and sounds like she came straight out of the Turning Point USA or PragerU conservative influencer pipelines. ‘People who don’t like what I say are, more than likely, braindead,’ Cannon declared in one video last week that sums up her facts-don’t-care-about-your-feelings style. But Cannon has one big advantage over her rival conservative commentators: she sits in an unusual way. Cannon typically records her videos leaning back in a chair while wearing yoga pants, with her legs pulled up on either side of her. It’s a pose that highlights everything a more prurient viewer might hope to see: her bare feet and—forgive me, I am only reporting the facts here—the faint outline of her genitals.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.thebulwark.com/p/right-wing-media-and-onlyfans-are-symbiotic-relationship

  • Meeting with Trump signals Netanyahu’s Clout Is Waning

    Source: Informed Comment
    by Christian Emery

    “Appearing increasingly isolated and weakened, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Washington this week, where he had a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump – his eighth of the US president’s second term. Netanyahu is desperate to revive his image as the closest ally of the most powerful man in the world, but his star has fallen dramatically in Washington since his last trip. The US president has problems of his own, so he clearly had little appetite for a photo opportunity with a deeply unpopular Israeli leader widely blamed for convincing him to launch an unwinnable war against a state few Americans saw as a serious threat.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.juancole.com/2026/07/meeting-signals-netanyahus.html

  • The front line of combating self-censorship is the classroom

    Source: Expression
    by Caroline Cunningham

    “A formidable enemy of free speech on college campuses is self-censorship. Much has been said about how to make students more willing to voice their opinions, but proposed solutions often overlook the people best positioned to change the culture where self-censorship frequently occurs: professors. Professors shape many of the environments where students decide whether speaking candidly is worth the risk. In a FIRE student survey conducted in 2025, 72% of students said they self-censor at least occasionally either when speaking in class or with a professor. Yet despite their direct influence over students’ willingness to speak, professors — and the classroom techniques they employ — remain underused in efforts to address the problem.” (07/30/26)

    https://expression.fire.org/p/the-front-line-of-combating-self

  • Kentucky school choice will benefit all students — including those in public schools

    Source: Bluegrass Institute
    by Mark D Guilfoyle & Andrew J Vandiver

    “Reasonable people can disagree about education policy. They can disagree about charter schools, vouchers, and the proper role of government in education. But House Bill 1 is different from many of those debates.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/school-choice-benefit-all-students/

  • Trump’s Boat Strikes Killed 221 People, but Didn’t Win the War on Drugs

    Source: Reason
    by Tosin Akintola

    “Last September, the U.S. military fired the first of 63 strikes against 67 small fishing boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean. The spate of killings in Operation Southern Spear has claimed 221 lives so far, according to the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights organization. In April, President Donald Trump boasted about the effectiveness of his extrajudicial maritime strikes against alleged drug traffickers, claiming his methods had stopped 98.2 percent of all drugs coming into the country by ocean or sea. However, new evidence from those inside the Trump administration shows the strikes have not slowed the flow of drugs coming into the country.” (07/30/26)

    https://reason.com/2026/07/30/trumps-boat-strikes-killed-221-people-but-didnt-win-the-war-on-drugs/

  • Fauci took the Fifth, but his diary may have already answered for him

    Source: Fox News
    by Jonathan Turley

    “The fact is that diaries tend to be self-obsessed, and no one would want their unvarnished private thoughts made public. Rather, my gripe with these passages is one I have previously raised in criticism of Fauci. During this period, dissenting scientists were barred from social media, removed from positions and vilified for expressing views despite now being vindicated on subjects ranging from the lab origin of the virus to the efficacy of masks, the 6-foot rule, natural immunity and school closures. As these courageous scientists were being abused by academic and media figures who still hold their positions, Fauci said not a word in their defense despite privately acknowledging that they could be right.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-fauci-took-fifth-diary-may-have-answered

  • Socialism Could Be the Future of the Democratic Party

    Source: Persuasion
    by Charles Lane

    “Obviously, the DSA feels energized and validated by having defeated establishment Democrats and captured the mayoralties of New York and Seattle, the Democratic nomination for Washington, D.C.’s mayoralty, plus four likely seats in the U.S. House in recent months. This raises a troubling question: What if the radicalism of the DSA’s constitutional plan is not its weakness but its strength? That is the really scary possibility. And it’s worth taking seriously.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.persuasion.community/p/socialism-vs-the-constitution

  • Don’t let democratic socialists pretend they’re moderates

    Source: USA Today
    by Dace Potas

    “Mamdani presents democratic socialism as little more than libraries, public schools and fire departments. The Democratic Socialists of America describe something far more sweeping. Recasting those ambitions as familiar public services is an effort to launder radical ideas into the mainstream. … Democratic socialists in office aren’t shy about wanting to replace capitalism. They are, after all, socialists. But their ambitions extend well beyond shifting some industries from private to public ownership. The Democratic Socialists of America’s platform calls for abolishing the police and prison system, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, establishing universal rent control, enacting reparations and much more.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/07/30/mamdani-obfuscate-democratic-socialist-party-platform/91078228007/

  • We’ve Officially Entered the Twilight of Late-Stage Trumpism

    Source: The New Republic
    by Greg Sargent

    “No one has ever seen anything like it, as Donald Trump himself might say. Buried in a new CNN poll is something striking: Trump isn’t just cratering by conventional approval measurements; he’s also absolutely collapsing by many metrics involving personal traits, from his mental state to his disconnectedness from ordinary people to his fondness for building monuments to himself. Welcome to the era of Late-Stage Trumpism. The ‘personalist’ aspects of Trumpian rule—the shaping of much of the government and even the physical capital of Washington, D.C., around one man’s relentless self-dealing and self-aggrandizement—have all started imploding in on themselves, in a collapsing supernova of venality and megalomania.” (07/30/26)

    https://newrepublic.com/article/213727/trump-polls-approval-twilight-late-stage-trumpism

  • Trump Inherited Peace Deals But Torched Them For More War, And Other Notes

    Source: Caitlin Johnstone
    by Caitlin Johnstone

    “Trump inherited a perfectly functional Iran nuclear deal in his first term and ceasefires between Yemen and Saudi Arabia and between Israel and Hezbollah in his second term. He had the possibility of peace in the middle east handed to him on a golden platter, and he actively torched it.” (07/30/26)

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/07/30/trump-inherited-peace-deals-but-torched-them-for-more-war-and-other-notes/

  • How Education Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Regulatory Challenges

    Source: Foundation for Economic Education
    by Denise Lever

    “When founders start education businesses, the conversations revolve around the learners. Founders focus on curriculum, culture, families, vision, and mission. Then months, and sometimes years, later, the questions shift to different concerns. ‘Do I need a business license?’ ‘Where do I get insurance?’ ‘How do I know who has jurisdiction?’ and, eventually, ‘Do you know a good lawyer?’ Many founders willingly invest hundreds of hours learning about child development, curriculum, and how to build a learning community culture. What many don’t anticipate is that bringing that vision to life also requires understanding lease agreements, zoning, employment law, insurance, building codes, and a host of other regulations that have little to do with education and everything to do with operating a successful education business.” (07/30/26)

    https://fee.org/articles/how-education-entrepreneurs-can-overcome-regulatory-challenges/

  • Trading Our Way to Wealth

    Source: Adam Smith Institute
    by Madsen Pirie

    “Every voluntary trade makes both parties richer. The buyer values what they receive more than what they give up. The seller values what he or she receives more than what they give up. Nothing is created in a factory sense, yet wealth appears, because both sides end up holding something they prize more highly than what they started with. This is not a zero-sum shuffle of existing goods. It is the mechanism by which economies grow.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/trading-our-way-to-wealth

  • Who Gets Rich from Innovation? Evidence from Broadband Expansion on the Colville Reservation

    Source: The Daily Economy
    by Vincent Geloso

    “The biggest winners from new technologies are usually the people who use them, not the people who invent them.” (07/30/26)

    https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/who-gets-rich-from-innovation-evidence-from-broadband-expansion-on-the-colville-reservation/

  • Five Things to Know About the DSA

    Source: The Next Move
    by Garry Kasparov

    “We can’t ignore the DSA and its influential boosters. Comments on my last article tried to deflect from the socialist problem. One reader argued that this is all a sideshow, pointing out that the DSA has only 100,000 members. I get it. With ICE agents continuing on their unrestrained rampage and a new Watergate practically every day, self-reflection feels difficult for many in the anti-Trump camp. But blindness is a recipe for disaster. Simple statistics like the number of card-carrying members belie the DSA’s growing sway in the Democratic Party. Who is involved matters much more than how many formally pay dues to the organization.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.thenextmove.org/p/five-things-to-know-about-the-dsa

  • Fauci: Diary of a Celebrity

    Source: Brownstone Institute
    by Maryanne Demasi

    “By positioning himself as the indispensable face of the pandemic, Fauci ensured that questioning the official narrative meant questioning him—and questioning him meant questioning science itself. The diary thus reads as the logical prelude to his 2021 declaration: ‘They’re really criticising science because I represent science.’ After reading these private entries, the remark no longer sounds like an off-the-cuff comment, but rather the inevitable conclusion of a man who had come to believe he was the final arbiter of truth.” (07/30/26)

    https://brownstone.org/articles/fauci-diary-of-a-celebrity/

  • Of course Anthony Fauci took the Fifth — and I know the damning reason why

    Source: New York Post
    by Steven W Mosher

    “Despite being pardoned by President Biden for his COVID crimes, Anthony Fauci pled his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. He refused to answer a single question about his role in pandemic policy before the Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Senator Rand Paul, despite being immune from prosecution. I think I know why.” (07/29/26)

    https://nypost.com/2026/07/29/opinion/of-course-anthony-fauci-took-the-fifth-and-i-know-the-damning-reason-why/

  • The Truth About Universal Coverage

    Source: Law & Liberty
    by Brian Balfour

    “Europe shows the risks of expanding government control over health care.” (07/30/26)

    https://lawliberty.org/the-truth-about-universal-coverage/

  • When ‘Consumer Protection’ Protects Producers from Competition

    Source: The Daily Economy
    by Daniel J Smith

    “Claims to ‘protect consumers’ often shield established industries from competition. The century-old battle over the definition of ‘whiskey’ shows how.” (07/30/26)

    https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/when-consumer-protection-protects-producers-from-competition/

  • America the Market

    Source: EconLog
    by Nathanael Snow

    “[Adam Smith] explains the mechanisms that Crown and Parliament in Great Britain used to achieve their goals through intervention into and control over the lives of colonists. Great Britain imposed protections and privileges for a subset of society, foreclosed on the colonists’ right to self governance, and advanced institutions to promote British nationalism. In contrast, Smith and the colonists seek after impartial institutions that govern for the welfare of all, analogous to a market.” (07/30/26)

    https://www.econlib.org/econlog/america-the-market

  • Reality is a Communist Plot

    Source: Paul Krugman
    by Paul Krugman

    “If believing something suits MAGA’s prejudices and interests, they don’t hesitate: they simply insist that it’s true. They routinely dismiss scientific and statistical evidence, but they don’t stop there. They’re perfectly willing to deny reality even if the truth is staring them in the face. Thus, Trump urged Americans to remember that 2024 TV blackout, which nobody remembers because it didn’t happen. He insists that California has ‘blackouts and brownouts every weekend,’ when the state’s 39 million residents can tell you it doesn’t. He says that you must show ID to buy groceries, which everyone who buys their own food knows isn’t so. Do Trump and his followers actually believe these things? As I see it, that’s a category error, starting from the presumption that they even accept that objective facts exist.” (07/30/26)

    https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/reality-is-a-communist-plot

  • The Money That Bought the War Is on the Blockchain

    Source: Antiwar.com
    by Thomas S Karat

    “Four days before Donald Trump took the oath a second time, a company controlled by the intelligence chief of a foreign monarchy wired the president-elect’s family its first installment. The date was January 16, 2025. The buyer was Aryam Investment 1, a vehicle backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, national security adviser of the United Arab Emirates and brother of its ruler, a man his own country’s press calls the spy sheikh. The purchase was 49 percent of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s cryptocurrency firm, for $500 million. … What that money bought is the subject of this account. It did not buy a dinner, though there was a dinner. It bought the machinery of the American national-security state, piece by piece, and the transactions can be traced with the precision of a bank statement, because for once the participants did not trouble to hide them.” (07/30/26)

    https://original.antiwar.com/thomas_karat/2026/07/29/the-money-that-bought-the-war-is-on-the-blockchain/